Blues boss Villas-Boas has spoken with billionaire owner Abramovich amid what has been arguably the most turbulent 10 days of his short managerial career. The fallout from the John Terry racism allegations and a raft of disciplinary issues have been compounded by results having nosedived in the past fortnight.

While Abramovich will be as unhappy as any Chelsea fan about recent results, it would appear he is satisfied with the overall progress that is being made. Villas-Boas said: "At the moment, he's good. We don't avoid our responsibilities for winning titles. We will defend this philosophy to the death, but what is expected from us as a top club is to win titles."

One win in the last four games - and that required extra-time - has left Chelsea nine points behind Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League title race and far from certain to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

Chelsea's poor run of results has coincided almost exactly with a similar slump last season which became a malaise that ultimately cost them the Premier League.

Villas-Boas insisted that was a motivation for his side rather than a millstone around their necks.

"When things don't go our way, we can't be happy with what's passing," he added. "This week that has passed, and the results we have been getting, doesn't hurt our confidence.

"There's a good spirit in the group. There's a negative momentum we are passing by.

"We want wins as soon as possible. We went past a bad period and bad momentum last year, and we want to avoid that again.

"The memory of that is bad enough to want us not to repeat it. But we're not questioning our quality or our talent."